


Sleepless Night

by Fuzzyface



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cuddling, F/F, Sharing a Bed, cute and dumb, this is an underrated ship okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 08:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14787359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuzzyface/pseuds/Fuzzyface
Summary: It's tough sharing a room when your new friend is maybe really cute and maybe likes messing with you a little too much





	Sleepless Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in some nebulous point after the conclusion of the circus arc where we’re gonna pretend Beau stayed with the rest of the party that evening to do some gay shit instead of spending all night getting beaten up several miles away.

You get what you pay for in this town, and what they had paid for was a dingy room in a dingy inn that was meant for one person. Maybe one blue tiefling or one monk, but certainly not both of them.

Jester had the bed. Beau wasn’t sure exactly how that arrangement had come to pass, but she’d come back from the washroom to find the tiefling already perched on the mattress, settling herself in for the night, and what was she supposed to do? Fight her for it? It had been a long enough day already.

Plus, she somehow knew that any objection she made would be met with the innocent offer that they should just share, and the thought made her insides burn like she’d just downed a bottle of fire whiskey. She could deal with being on the floor.

It would be a lot easier, though, if the room weren’t just barely longer than she was. And if half the floorspace weren’t taken up by a completely useless table that seemed to serve no purpose other than not letting her stretch her legs out. And if her bedroll weren’t just slightly more comfortable than the bare floor. And if it weren’t absolutely freezing.

Jester was still awake, very obviously. Beau could hear the continuous scratch of pencil on paper, and every once in a while a pause while Jester let out a thoughtful ‘ _hhmmmm_ ’ before going back to work. Beau desperately wanted it to be more annoying than endearing. Dammit.

She wrapped her pathetic blanket around herself as tightly as she could, wondering not for the first time how it was somehow colder _inside_ the building than out. She’d all but entirely given up on the pretense of getting any sleep tonight. With all the events of the day still churning through her head, it was all she could do to just lie still and stare at the ceiling for the few more hours until the sun came up.

“Hey,” Jester whispered suddenly, and Beau jerked upright so sharply that she kicked against the table. Hot pain shot through her foot - her bad foot, too, because that’s just the way things were going today - and she hissed out a string of curses that would make Fjord blush.

“ _What?_ ” She snapped, trying to find Jester’s form in the darkness. It didn’t take long - the tiefling’s eyes were glowing like two bright purple moons. “Gods, can you turn down the brightness on those things? It’s freaky as hell.”

Jester giggled cheerfully, like she hadn’t just heard Beau attempt to damn every living creature this side of the continent. “Don’t be silly,” she said, “how else would I be able to draw in the dark?” There was a loud rustle of paper that Beau assumed was a display of her sketchbook.

“Have you tried, I dunno, using the lights?” Beau muttered, rubbing dejectedly at her bruised ankle. If she could walk properly tomorrow, it would be the greatest miracle since running water.

“Well then I would be keeping you up, duh,” Jester said, with a sigh that was edging way too close to condescending. Beau was too tired, too sore, and too ‘still working through being very nearly arrested’ to deal with this tonight.

“Shit, go right ahead,” she said with a snort, reluctantly standing up from her bedroll. “By all means, don’t let me laying here getting zero fuckin sleep keep you from anything.”

She clicked the ignition switch on the bedside lantern, flooding the room with warm orange light. Jester sat up sharply, snapping her sketchbook closed before Beau could make any sense out of the mass of charcoal scribbles on the page. She’d apparently elected to wear a loose-fitting tunic to bed, despite the ungodly weather, and Beau had to shift her gaze very firmly to the wall when she realized exactly how loose-fitting it was. Dammit.

“So why are you still awake?” Jester asked, propping her chin on her hands with a playful grin. “Are you thinking about something? Or some _one_?”

“I’m thinking about how much I wish I were asleep,” Beau said, ignoring the singsong-y tease and keeping her gaze locked stiffly on the wall. The paint was badly peeling.

“Can you not sleep? Are you still hurt?” Jester asked with a frown, wriggling out from the covers so her soft blue legs hung over the side of the bed.

Not soft. Just blue.

“No, I’m fine,” Beau said quickly, trying to back away from her roommate’s stare of wide-eyed concern, already reaching for her divine symbol. Unfortunately, the entire world was against her tonight, because no amount of monk training could keep her from letting out an undignified yelp of pain as her heel connected with the wall.

In an instant, Jester was an alarmed cat, pointed ears perking straight up and tail lashing sharply across the sheets behind her. If she weren’t in excruciating pain, Beau might have laughed at the visual. As it were, all she could do was bite back another whine as she slowly sunk to the floor.

“You _are_ hurt,” Jester said, sounding almost smug. Beau’s frantic head shaking did nothing to stop her roommate from leaping lightly off the bed and bounding quickly to her side.

“Let me see your foot,” Jester instructed, her voice dropping into that ‘I’m-a-very-serious-cleric’ tone that only rarely made an appearance.

“No, no, I’m fi- _AH!_ ” Beau winced sharply as Jester, breezily ignoring all protests, wrapped a hand around her ankle and lifted it up for inspection.

“Oh hush, you big baby, I’m just taking a look” Jester said, gently tapping her fingers across the swollen skin. Which, yeah, still _hurt_ , but maybe wasn’t quite as bad as Beau had originally thought. Jester’s doctoring hands were gentle, running across the smooth skin of Beau’s ankle with a care and tenderness that sent an unexpected shiver up her leg. Dammit.

“Well,” the tiefling said after a moment, “the good news is your foot is not broken.”

“Does that mean there’s bad news?”

“Yes, the bad news is it’s bruised to shit,” Jester said cheerfully, giving her foot a painful little pat before setting it back on the ground.

“Wow, thanks,” Beau grumbled, wincing as she tried to find a comfortable way to rest it. “I’m so glad you could impart your cleric wisdom on me.”

“You’re welcome,” Jester chriped. The shit-eating grin on her face was not only obnoxious, but a blatant infringement on Beau’s territory. “Now,” she said, sitting up and sidling a little closer, “do you want me to heal it or do you want to mope about it for the rest of the night?”

“Well, I - “ It was hard to answer when fresh pain was still throbbing through her leg. And when Jester was so suddenly and overtly in her personal space. Definitely one of the two. “You don’t _need_ to. I mean, don’t waste a spell slot just on a stupid bruise.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jester said, waving her off immediately. “They’ll all be back in the morning. Let me just - ” She carefully laid her fingers against the purplish skin once more, but this time there was a look of intent concentration on her face. She murmured something quietly under her breath, closed her eyes, and then with a small pulse of warmth, the pain seemed to melt away.

Jester’s eyes shot open, hands moving to hover over her work with nervous eagerness. “Well, did it work? Are you okay?”

Tentatively, Beau flexed her ankle. It was still sore, definitely, and she could faintly see what remained of the bruising under her skin, but the sharpness of the pain was entirely gone. “Wow, yeah,” she said, touching the skin in mild awe. Jester still hovered over her, looking delighted and smug all at once. “Uh, thanks.”

“It’s nothing,” the tiefling said breezily, patting her leg before getting to her feet. “But, just to _really_ make sure you owe me, I’m going to give you the bed too.”

“Wha-” Beau hadn’t even fully processed what she’d said before Jester had bounded away, clearing her art supplies from the bed with a quick sweep and smoothing the sheets dramatically. “Hang on, wait, you don’t need to - “

“Too late,” Jester said, dropping back onto the mattress and kicking her legs cheerfully. “You know, it is very rude to refuse an invitation, Beau.”

Under any other circumstances, Beau would cut her own arm off before she’d turn down a warm place to sleep. She’d camped out on the hard-packed earth too many times to turn up her nose at a bit of luxury when she can find it. But it’s one thing to get a bed because she paid for it and a completely different universe to have to stare down Jester’s playful grin and try to force what was left of her brain to figure out whether or not she was messing with her.

It wasn’t worth the chance. “Seriously, Jes, I’m fine, just - “ she trailed off sharply as Jester’s eyes suddenly went as wide as gold pieces, the tip of her tail twitching back and forth. “Wh-what? I'm not kidding, I - ”

“You called me ‘Jes’,” Jester’s face split into a wide grin, tail giving up all pretense of restraint and swishing in earnest now. “Beaaaaaaaau, that’s so - “

“ _No_ , I didn’t,” Gods, if she’d been a little flustered before, Beau’s face was actually on fire now and she cursed the gods that she didn’t still have her cloak to pull over her head and never return from. “I said _Jester_ , okay?”

“I heard you, Beau,” Jester sang, leaning forward on her elbows and wiggling her eyebrows. “Does this mean I can call you a nickname too? Oh, how about - “

“No, gods, okay,” Beau waved her off hurriedly before the line of conversation could spiral even further out of her control. “It wasn’t even a nickname it was just, shit I don’t know, it was just - “

“It’s _cute_ is what is it,” Jester interrupted, hands smushed against her cheeks in a completely overblown gesture of delight. Beau could feel her face warming up against her will. Dammit.

“Can you just - forget I said it,” Beau mumbled, head in her hands. This whole day was quickly becoming one of the most embarrassing of her entire life, though not even getting hauled around in handcuffs compared to this.

“I will,” Jester said, a catlike grin inching across her face, “if you take the bed.”

“Fine,” Beau huffed in exasperation, getting to her feet as quickly as she could without throwing out her bad foot again. She had to give Jester credit though, aside from a slight throb her ankle was practically back in working order.

Jester was still in full caretaker mode as she ushered Beau into the bed, smoothing the sheets and tucking the blankets carefully around her. The shitty inn bed was really only a few steps above the floor in terms of comfort, but it was enough that she felt herself starting to drift after only a few second. Probably why she couldn’t bring herself to push Jester’s cloying affection away.

“Goodnight kiss!” Jester sang, ducking down toward her cheek before Beau could fully even process what she said. Her lips pressed to her skin with a startling rush of warmth, and thankfully any reaction on Beau’s part was interrupted by Jester suddenly jerking back in surprise.

“You’re so _cold_ ,” she gasped, prodding at Beau’s face like she were some kind of alien creature.

“Are you kidding me?” Beau asked. “You’re the one who’s burning up.”

“What?” Jester tipped her head to the side for a moment before seeming to come to a realization. “ _Oh_ , of course, I forgot you humans are always so cold.” She looked serious suddenly. “Is this why you couldn’t sleep earlier?”

“Well, uh-” Beau didn’t get any further before she was cut off by a bundle of tiefling practically crawling over her, flopping down onto the covers beside her with a grin.

“You should have said something!” Jester insisted, casually beginning to tuck herself into the blankets and ignoring Beau’s stare of complete incomprehension.

“Uh, _what_ are you doing?” Beau finally managed to get out, her voice almost squeaking.

“Keeping you from freezing to death, apparently,” Jester said, bafflingly matter-of-fact as she snuggled herself down under the ratty quilt. “Don’t worry,” she said, finally seeing Beau’s dumbfounded expression, “I don’t snore.”

“Oh, thanks, _that’s_ what I was worried about,” Beau said, trying for derisive and landing somewhere around mortified. Jester clearly couldn’t care less, eyes slipping peacefully closed as she tucked her arms under her head. It was, gods help her, kind of adorable.

Beau leaned over and snapped off the light as quickly as possible, relief flooding her as quickly as darkness did the room. Feeling about as stiff as she did sneaking around guards, she slowly lowered herself under the covers next to her newfound bedmate.

“I haven’t shared a bed with anyone in a while,” she said softly, without really thinking, and regretted it instantly as Jester giggled beside her.

“Oh you _haven’t_ , have you?”

“Shut _up_ ,” Beau grumbled, knocking her gently in the ribs with an elbow. She really wasn’t in any mood to deal with this right now, even if it were true that she hadn’t shared a bed in _that_ way in a long time either.

“Don’t worry, Beau,” Jester said, patting her comfortingly on the arm. “Pretty girls love mysterious superheroes, I bet.”

“I’m not-” There was too much to even respond to there that Beau didn’t know where to begin. The defensiveness she sometimes felt at being clocked by someone she hardly knew wasn’t there; instead, there was just a swell of warmth at the earnesty in her voice and stupid, stupid hopefulness -

Better not to think about it. “Can we go to sleep now?” She whispered instead, turning away from the bright glow of Jester’s full-moon eyes.

“Okay,” came the soft response, and Beau’s shoulders slumped in quiet relief before she felt the covers shift and a warm body curl against her back.

Jester wrapped her arms around the monk like she were about to try to lift her, snuggling her face into the dip of Beau shoulder and humming in total contentment. Under the blankets, Beau felt a warm, heavy weight wrap gently around her injured leg and settle there comfortably. Jester’s tail.

Beau was frozen stiff. Beau had somehow managed to turn to ice despite being suddenly engulfed in warmth.

And here’s the thing: Beau wasn’t _in love_ with Jester. She didn’t believe in that fairy tale garbage where you meet someone for the first time three days ago and you’re already head-over-heels and, like, waxing poetic about their eyes or whatever. That sort of thing didn’t happen in real life. Or at least certainly not in Beau’s life.

But Jester was cute. Jester was sweet. Jester was all laughter and mischievous smiles and getting way too far into your personal space. She was soft where Beau was sharp and it shouldn’t endear her so much but _dammit_. She learned a long time ago that she couldn’t control who her heart decided to get fucked up over and right now it just so happened to be the cute blue girl who was now practically _spooning her -_

“Goodnight,” Jester sighed into her hair, seeming happily oblivious to the utter crisis she was currently cuddling up to. In her head, Beau responded in turn, totally calm and collected. In reality, she still hadn’t quite remembered how to move.

There was a slight shifting beside her as Jester sat up, slackening her grip around Beau’s midriff somewhat, but still leaving her fingers pressed lightly against the human’s sides. Somehow, that was even worse.

“Are you okay?” She asked, and gods if the genuine worry in her voice didn’t make Beau’s stomach tighten even more. “I didn’t totally fuck you up with that spell, did I?”

“I’m fine,” Beau said, all in one rush as she finally got her voice back. “I’m fine, it’s cool, don’t worry about me. Goodnight.” She continued to stare fixedly at the wall. Think about falling out of the window. Think about severed toad heads. Think about Fjord and Molly having weird sexual tension in the other room. Think about -

Jester hummed skeptically, sliding her fingers ever so lightly up Beau’s side. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from involuntarily squeaking because she couldn’t even imagine what Jester would do with the knowledge that she was ticklish.

“Beau,” she said softly, the playful edge back in her voice. “Would you feel better with another goodnight kiss?”

Somewhere out in the celestial plane or wherever, the gods must finally decide that really, Beau’s had a hard enough day already, because the next words came as easily as breathing. “Only one way to find out.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Please come talk to me about how unfair it is that nobody ships beaujester at fuzzy-face.tumblr.com
> 
> Also thanks for reading I love u


End file.
